in which I randomly give book reviews, muse about the mundane, talk about my day and revel in minute accomplishments . . . .

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Story of Midnite

Since I have included a few pictures of our resident retirees previously, I thought that I would tell the story of how Midnite came to join our family.

In 2006, we decided to give in to the kids' pleading for a dog - with the condition that I got to have final say as to which dog we picked. We knew that we were just not equipped to take on a puppy, so we started looking into rescues and at the Humane Society. At some point, I stumbled onto an article about retired racing greyhounds and I was smitten. The rest of the family was not quite sure, but after an opportunity to meet some of the pups at a street fair, the whole family was on board. We soon filled out an application, and despite the fact that I really didn't have a color preference, I included the fact that I thought that black greyhounds were especially cute. Never in a million years would I expect a call the very next day. A small, black, female greyhound was on her way from North Carolina to find a home in Pennsylvania.

We quickly gathered the necessary dog accessories and happily went to meet the newest member of our family. While the other dogs at the home she was staying with came running to greet us, Midnite hung back and warily glanced at us out of the corner of her eye. She was exceptionally shy and startled easily. There were doubts as to how readily she would adapt to living with children. During her two week "settling in" period, the doubts multiplied, but just when I was convinced she would never be content in our home - she began to come out of her shell by leaps and bounds.

As we got to know her, anyone could see that Midnite was scary-smart and could communicate quite eloquently with meaningful sighs, whines and stares. She still had strange fears and many, many quirks, but those only serve to make her more special to us.

So, speaking of her quirks, this is Midnite's silent protest against the unfairness of her family cruelly stealing all of the available furniture, forcing her to contort herself to fit on a 14 inch throw pillow. It took her at least five minutes to situate herself thusly.

Also, as you can see, she has fully recovered from the trauma of the piano bench attack.